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The Mazda6 and its drop-dead looks

The Mazda6, just another midsize sedan in the whole field of midsize sedans out there. “How do you hide a stolen cow? Hide it in a field of other cows!” This car doesn’t quite fit that adage. The first thing that tells you that this cow is neon pink, orange, and green in this field of beige cows is the aesthetics. This car is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. Mazda did quite a good job at molding a midsize sedan in their Kodo design language, describing how the soul can be in motion.

And, my, the soul is really in motion.

Let’s first take a look at the front of the 6. It starts quite flat at the front, but that doesn’t hinder a thing. The grille seems to smirk like it has something to hide under the lingerie-like clothing. The chrome strip that creates the smirk and the quite threatening, yet subtly integrated headlights. The bottom grille, along with the grille and headlights look like they want to say something. That something is a look of “I’m going to get you, no matter what, and I’ll look good doing it!” I think it befits the car’s body quite well.

The hood is quite long, everything ahead of the A-pillar is long and lanky. The subtle fender flares on the front make the car have an aggressive stance in the front, and make the car seem to move even when it is standing still, yet adding crumple zones for safety, looks really excellent in my opinion. That’s Kodo for you. The front foglamps also curve into the front fender, which ripples into the fender flares, giving a sense of starting off where the front fascia stopped. The hood, bulging and creating a separation between the aggressive side profile and the roof, it works well. The bulge helps you think the car is fast and has a lot of power underneath, alas, the 2.5 liter Skyactiv engine doesn’t make that much, it does well.

Let’s quit harping on the engine and keep moving back. At the A-pillar, the fender flare tapers off into the door lines. The doors have a soft flowing curve, at the top, and more pronounced at the bottom, shaped like the wind would flow over the car, it looks quite nice. The windows form a stretched teardrop shape, at it’s highest at the B-pillar. The raked windshield molds into the roof, at it’s highest at the B-pillar as the windows. The windows and the roof have a marginally thick bezel between them, I’d like it to be smaller, but roof crush tests for rollovers and general safety hinder that fact. But this car is an IIHS Top Safety Pick +, which is their highest rating. That’s quite good.

Past the B-pillar, everything tapers off. There is also a couple of fender flares at the rear, although not as pronounced as the front, it still adds a curvature, and looks so good in the process. The trunk is short, and the hood is long, it fits the older muscle car philosophy of “long hood, short deck” to a tee. That always looks good in my book, and if you flip it around you get a bulbous trunk section with a too-short hood, and that’s not the best to look at, cough cough Ford Fiesta sedan cough.

The rear fascia also looks really good, like the front. The taillights also look aggressive, with a chrome strip on top, which gives me a look of, “I’m gone, I did my job at being better than you.” That may seem arrogant, but it still makes my eyes attracted to the car, like Adderall and college students, for example. It looks quite good in the back, although the rear reflectors tried. They tried. But they seem like they were stuck there, but a 1-inch recess will make it look good? It’s OK, but I’d like it more blended in the bottom left and right of the bumper, below the rear fenders.

The choice of dual 5-spoke wide wheels on this car make it look sporty, like it can take a corner with authority, and it can, but I’m not talking about the driving dynamics here. They blend into the rest of the car just extremely well. The 17-inch wheels look good, but the 19-inch alloys with the more low-profile tires match the sporty look a lot more.

The car looks excellent on the outside, what about the inside? It still looks really good.

As I look at the driver’s perspective, everything seems well laid out. Everything seems driver-oriented, and just quite thought out. Everything either seems round or angular, and it all works. Every bit of it but one. The heads-up display. It seems to stick out like a sore thumb, and it doesn’t seem right, as below it are one of the nicest sets of analog gauges on a car. Can’t you just tilt your head down 15 degrees? Anyway, the infotainment system, although looking like it should retract, still looks like it belongs, as there isn’t a place where you can really mount a single or double-DIN traditional stereo anywhere. It’s all for HVAC controls and storage, and it just works.

The door panels are angular, and look good and well matched to the dash. I look at the junction between dash and door panel rather seriously. It works. There is a stylistic line, and it makes it seems the car bends around the passengers. It looks good. The seats look comfortable, and sporty, and belong. Everything is bolstered, and makes the car seem like it is sporty and can take a corner without you having to grab the ‘OH SH*T’ handles or the steering wheel to hold on during a corner. It looks quite good inside.

The Mazda6. It looks really, really, really good. If I would buy a midsize sedan, I would buy a Mazda6. The looks alone are just awe inducing, and I’m not going to start on the drive. Only if Mazda would finally come out with the turbodiesel already.

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